JENNY Ferre, former creative and production chief of “Eat Bulaga” (EB) has told the Marikina trial court that TAPE and GMA7 violated her rights when they showed segments of the noontime show during replay episodes from June 1 to 3 without her consent.
Ferre, during a hearing at the sala of Presiding Judge Romeo Tagra of the Manila RTC Branch 273 last Thursday, August 31, said the said episodes were copyrighted under her name and should not have been shown without her permission.
“I registered these segments to the Bureau of Copyright and Related Rights (BCRR) of the Intellectual Property Office (IPOPHL). I also deposited these works to the National Library of the Philippines,” Ferre said in her judicial affidavit.
“I own the rights because I am the creator of said works. Since I am not an employee of TAPE and neither did we execute an agreement as to how these works will be governed, the copyright belongs to me as the author or creator there of,” she also said.
Ferre said she joined “Eat Bulaga” in 1994 and was part of the unit that made the show’s contents and segments, while TAPE handled the financial aspects until early this year.
She said TAPE executives told the staff that the show has been suffering huge losses in profit and the only way to recover these was through the rebranding and reinventing of “Eat Bulaga” by introducing new segments and replacing the hosts.
“(But) I knew for a fact that ‘Eat Bulaga’ was earning money and (that) was just an excuse to remove talents or renegotiate their talent fees,” she said. “I also did not agree with many of the intended or proposed creative decisions.”
Despite her doubts over the claims of TAPE, she negotiated with the firm for possible reconciliation but no settlement was reached between them.
The former “Eat Bulaga” creative and production chief also said that during the time the replay episodes were shown, they were spliced in a way that they appeared to be “new” and that she, the TVJ trio, the other hosts, and the other staff did not resign on May 31, 2023.
The continuation of the hearing will be held today, Monday.
